Rachel Gorry has revealed she’s “madly in love” with her new boyfriend.
Last month, the mother-of-three confirmed she’s found love again, following the death of her late husband Daniel.
The Irish influencer’s husband was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in September 2018 – and he sadly passed away on April 1, 2020, at the age of 29.
Rachel has insisted she won’t be sharing the identity of her mystery boyfriend – leading fans to speculate who it is.
Many believed her mystery beau might be influencer Alan Clarke, however, Rachel has since denied this and revealed they are just friends.
Both Rachel and Alan have since poked fun at the speculation online, and discussed it on the latest episode of his podcast Big News Coming Soon.
In the episode, the pair discussed people speculating about him being her mystery man, as Rachel described the reaction to her post as “crazy”.
Rachel and Alan explained that the romance rumours first started when they were at the Galway Races last year, when he was seen giving her a piggyback down the street.
After confirming Alan is definitely not her new man, the social media stars joked that some people still don’t believe them – and might start thinking they’re secretly in a “throuple”.
All jokes aside, Rachel said she gave herself a migraine as she was so fearful of the potential backlash to her post.
The mother-of-three confessed she had braced herself for negative comments about her new relationship, but was surprised to receive nothing but support from her followers.
Rachel explained: “If people can message me and say ‘I’m delighted your husband is dead’ or ‘your husband is being eaten by maggots’, I was thinking well they’re going to come for me if I’m in a new relationship.”
“I wanted to share it, like I have nothing to hide and I’m so happy, but the nerves were there,” she admitted.
When Alan asked what her new beau thinks of the “social media world”, Rachel revealed: “He just thinks it all a bit mad, doesn’t understand it and doesn’t want to. And I don’t want to bring him into it.”
“I always said I would never have anybody on my page, I wouldn’t want to thrust someone into the madness that it entails, I wouldn’t do that to somebody. So I always said I’ll keep my private life private.”
Despite finding love again, Rachel has insisted “no one will ever replace” Daniel.
Rachel told Alan: “I will talk about Daniel until the day that I die, and I never want him to be forgotten, ever. And that’s not only important for me, but I also think thats so important for my girls.”
“And regardless, I have a new boyfriend now, I am madly in love with him, and I’m really mad about him… [but] my love for Daniel doesn’t affect my love for my new boyfriend.
“I think it takes a really special kind of a person to be with a widow or a widower, to understand and be ok with that, because I never want to start talking about Daniel and if that was ever an issue then I couldn’t…
“I think people who take on, not take on I suppose isn’t probably the right word, but a widow or a widower, they’re amazing people.”
Rachel also said she knows Daniel would want her to be happy, and revealed she has it all “in writing”.
“I know exactly what Daniel would think because I have it all in writing, you know, he left letters for me,” she explained.
“I know exactly what he wants and I know exactly that I’m doing nothing wrong and I’m genuinely happy.”
Alan then recalled Rachel telling him she didn’t think she’d ever find love again.
Rachel confessed: “I genuinely believed that, and now over four years later I am madly in love with somebody and I’m really, really happy.”
At the end of June, the mum-of-three shared a black and white photo of her holding hands with her new beau.
She captioned the post: “A New Chapter 🖤.”
Rachel was inundated with supportive messages, as her followers stressed how happy they were for her.
Doireann Garrihy commented, “You deserve ALL of the happiness Rachel ❤️,” while Shauna Lindsay wrote, “So happy to see this ❤️ delighted for you @rachelgorryx 😘🫶🏼 xx.”
While Rachel previously confessed she couldn’t imagine herself in another relationship, the social media star said she had a change of heart in December.
During a candid Q&A on Instagram, Rachel said: “Look I suppose I’ve always been very open and honest with you, you know, in saying that I don’t ever see myself with anyone other than Daniel, that I don’t ever see myself in a relationship again…”
“Then I suppose four years pass and the loneliness creeps in and my thoughts have changed.
“I kind of feel like maybe I am ready for something or maybe it would be nice to spend your life with someone. It might be nice to have somebody there.”
“I never thought I’d be a widow at 29. To think at the time it was a bit naive I would spend the rest of my life on my own,” the mother-of-three continued. “Now don’t get me wrong it scares me so much, I’ve never actually said that out loud.”
Rachel then recalled a conversation she had with her late husband’s father.
“He was saying, ‘You’re such a young woman you can’t spend the rest of your life on your own. We’ll support you no matter what and we love you. You’ll always be a daughter to us. Daniel wanted you to move on’…
Rachel explained: “It’s the words ‘move on’ hits my ears wrong. I know that sounds so silly.”
“It kind of makes me feel like that means I’m leaving Daniel in the past if I was to meet somebody and that’s not the case because Daniel is such a massive part of my life and he always will be.
“I’m such a young widow with three kids, that’s a lot for someone as well. So maybe I would just be better spending the rest of my life on my own!”
The influencer confessed she felt “guilty” at the thought of spending the rest of her life with another person.
“It’s a bit of a tricky one. But I do think that it would kind of nice maybe to have somebody and share your life with somebody maybe. Who knows, we’ll see,” she added.
Rachel and Daniel were childhood sweethearts, and tied the knot on June 18, 2012.
The couple went on to welcome three daughters – Leah, Holly and Hannah.
